RESEARCHER ADVOCATES FOR BREADFRUIT AS SUBSTITUTE TO WHEAT FLOUR

Breadfruit Fruits and Bread made with various percentage of High Quality Breadfruit Flour Inclusion  

A food scientist, Mr. Tijani Akeem Olumide has urged the government and stakeholders in the country to take advantage of the potential in breadfruit crop as the needed alternative to cassava for domestic consumption and industrial use.

Tijani, a Doctoral student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), stated that the usage of cassava as wheat flour is getting to the tipping point, adding that adoption of breadfruit to serve that purpose and more is the way to go.

According to him, successive administration in the country have been worried about the high cost of wheat flour which is the major component of confectioneries such as bread, pastries, biscuits, spaghetti among others, he added that there is need for enhanced public education on the benefits of the crop.

The food scientist who is a Research Officer with National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), lamented that despite Nigeria being the largest cassava producing nation in the world, "About 90 per cent  of the cassava produced in Nigeria is used for the production of traditionally fermented food especially garri and fufu with less than 10 per cent of industrial application for the production of starch, chips, animal feeds, glucose, fructose syrup and high quality cassava flour, with all these multiple uses of cassava it is doubtful if the quality of flour required by the millers could be met."

Picture of Outcome for recent researched inclusion of High Quality Breadfruit Flour (HQBF) 

Making his report known on his social media page, the food scientists averred further that," It is a known fact that the high cost of wheat flour which is the major component of confectioneries such as bread, pastries, biscuits, spaghetti etc has become a great source of concerns for successive governments.

Despite various efforts by past administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo nand President Goodluck Jonathan to get the inclusion of cassava flour to 40% in 2015, report shows that the nation has yet significantly reduced the importation of wheat flour to the desired level.

Olumide noted that "the high cost of wheat flour led to the need for partial substitution of wheat flour with high quality cassava flour and other gluten free flour."

Noting that the fears of major stakeholders, farmers, processors, millers and master bakers regarding the acceptance of cassava-bread by the consumers especially those with contempt for cassava as a poor man’s food has not been adequately addressed thus, he said this is still leaving a very wide gap for finding a better substitution of wheat flour.

The doctoral student who possesses a  BSc in Food Science and Technology and MSc in Food Processing And Storage Technology stressed that several studies have reported the potentials of composite flour technology as a means of reducing the dependency of wheat for the production of bakery products and encourage the use of locally grown crops as flour for the production of baking products, adding that this leads to saving foreign exchange and diversification of Agricultural produce in food processing.

He noted that breadfruit current total yield production in Nigeria is about 10million metric tones with potential to exceed 100million metric tones with improved agricultural practices and this is capable of meeting the desired needs in contents and volume.

In his recent research work, Olumide with 16 international publications and several local presentations to his credit shows that high quality breadfruit flour that is unfermented, white, smooth and odourless can be included up to 20% and the sensory evaluation was as good compared to even 5% cassava flour inclusion.